Welcome
Working Together To Ensure All Students Learn and Feel a True Sense of Belonging.
Curriculum and Assessment
Orleans Southwest curriculum and assessment work is focusing on three content areas: reading, writing and math, with Science to start this winter. To help to make sure that we had a common vocabulary and agreement about what is “best practice” in each committee we collaboratively attended professional development activities. ‘For the past two years the Reading Committee worked with a consultant, Sue Biggam, from Vermont Reads Institute at the University of Vermont for two days to look at the key elements in reading. With the work of committed members on the committee, we have been able to design a comprehensive supervisory union reading assessment system that will be implemented during the 2009-2010 school year.
During the summer meeting of the Writing Committee, we determined that the goals for this year were to have two on-demand writing prompts administrated during the 2009 -2010 school year, scored and the data reviewed to improve student learning. It was agreed the data from the writing prompt could quickly improve instruction at both the individual and classroom level.
During the 2008-2009 Pre-K – 12 Math Committee reviewed our curriculum and assessment systems. To start our work, the committee took part in a three-day professional development series provided by LAPDA to learn best practices for math instruction. After the completion of the series, the committee determined that we need to develop a supervisory union wide guaranteed math curriculum for each grade level. We have the first version of our PreK-8 Grade Level Benchmarks and they have been distributed to all teachers of math.
Mentoring
This is our third year of our colleague support system for new teachers. To implement this program we continue to partner with Vermont NEA to provide the training and support to the mentors. This year we have 18 educators that are working to either support the program or are being mentored. This program has been well received by the new mentors as well as their mentees.
Leadership work
During the 2008-2009 school year, the leadership team has been developing a model for the Orleans Southwest that will help to bring coherence to all the work that we do. We are basing the work on Grant Wiggins and Jay McTyghe’s Schooling by Design and the Policy Governance work that the boards are doing. Our intent in looking at this model is to help us clarify whether or not the things we are working on aligns with the Supervisory Union ENDS as they relate to improved learning for all students. Also, this past summer, we launched our first version of the Supervisory Union wide Learning Principles, and we have a committee that is helping to inform how we use these to improve the learning for all students.
Curriculum and Assessment Resources
- Reading Committee Resources
- Math Committee Resources
- Writing Committee Resources
- Link to the Vermont Educational Data Warehouse
- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
- Center for Performance Assessment
- Center for Assessment